The number of confirmed mpox cases in Sierra Leone since the beginning of the year has risen to 2,045, with 11 reported deaths, according to a new report from the country’s Ministry of Health.
Authorities announced the updated figures late Monday, revealing 165 new cases recorded on Sunday alone. At the beginning of May, the case count stood at 1,140 with nine deaths.
As the outbreak intensifies, Health Minister Austin Demby on Tuesday appealed to the Indian High Commissioner for 100,000 doses of the mpox vaccine.
“We’re facing a national crisis,” Demby told parliament, adding that Sierra Leone had shown resilience during past health emergencies like Ebola and COVID-19, and expressed confidence in the country’s ability to manage this latest challenge.
In response to the growing number of infections, the government opened four treatment centers in Freetown in February.
Several other African nations have also reported surging mpox cases, particularly the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi, and Kenya.
Demby noted that the outbreak began with just one or two daily cases in January, gradually increasing to 50 per day in March and April. A sharp rise followed in May, especially in the western region of the country, affecting both urban and rural communities.
Mpox, a viral disease related to smallpox, causes symptoms such as high fever and skin lesions. First identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970, it was largely confined to a dozen African countries until it began spreading more widely in 2022. The World Health Organization declared its highest level of alert for mpox in 2024.
Sierra Leone has a history of battling severe health crises. During the 2014–2016 Ebola epidemic, the country lost about 4,000 people, including nearly seven percent of its health workers.
